When Healers Need Healing: Burnout in Mental Healthcare Workers

Inside Mental Health

Mental health professionals often provide support, but what happens when they need help themselves? In this episode, Dr. Jessi Gold and Gabe Howard explore burnout, emotional exhaustion, and the unique challenges doctors and therapists face. Using humor and honesty, they discuss the stigmas around mental health care providers seeking treatment themselves and the importance of "practicing what you preach."

Dr. Gold reveals how burnout can manifest emotionally and physically, from depersonalization to feeling disconnected from personal accomplishments. She explains why mental health workers, who deal in emotions daily, often avoid addressing their own emotional struggles. The episode explores the delicate balance between maintaining empathy and protecting oneself from burnout, and Dr. Gold shares practical strategies for self-care – for professionals and patients.

Whether you're a healthcare worker, a patient, or someone curious about the inner lives of mental health professionals, this episode offers a candid look into the emotional toll of caregiving. Listen Now!

“And it did not help my burnout. I think that I do what a lot of people do, which is actually a symptom of burnout, which is depersonalization, which is disconnecting as much as humanly possible. And I think we learn that in training as a way to protect ourselves. But what happens with burnout or what happens when story after story after story is resonating too much is we kind of disconnect completely. And so we're no longer like that person is a person. We're sort of like, that's just another, like it's an object.” ~Jessi Gold, MD, MS

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To learn more -- or read the transcript -- please visit the official episode page.

Our guest, Jessi Gold, MD, MS, is the Chief Wellness Officer of the University of Tennessee System and an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. This inaugural leadership position encompasses all five University of Tennessee campuses, UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga, UT Southern, UT Martin, and UT Health Science Center, and includes up about 59,000 students and 19,0000 faculty and staff. In her clinical practice, she sees healthcare workers, trainees, and young adults in college.

Dr. Gold is also a fierce mental health advocate and highly sought-after expert in the media on everything from burnout to celebrity self-disclosure. She has written widely for the popular press, including for The New York Times, The Atlantic, InStyle, Slate, and Self. Her first book, “HOW DO YOU FEEL? One Doctor’s Search for Humanity in Medicine” is out available now from Simon Element. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in anthropology), the Yale School of Medicine, and the Stanford University Department of Psychiatry, she spends her free time traveling with her friends, watching live music (especially Taylor Swift) or mindless television, and on walks with her dog, Winnie. Find her on X, Instagram, TikTok, or Threads @DrJessiGold.

Our host, Gabe Howard, is an award-winning writer and speaker who lives with bipolar disorder. He is the author of the popular book, "Mental Illness is an Asshole and other Observations," available from Amazon; signed copies are also available directly from the author.

Gabe makes his home in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. He lives with his supportive wife, Kendall, and a Miniature Schnauzer dog that he never wanted, but now can’t imagine life without.

To book Gabe for your next event or learn more about him, please visit gabehoward.com.

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